Pure

Chapter 1 - Elias

     Elias lazily walked down the hall, trying to drown out Sam's one-sided conversation. His eyes flicked to the other students, but none of them were doing anything interesting. 

     He locked eyes with a sophomore whose face turned bright red almost instantly. She turned back to her boyfriend who was staringing daggers into his soul. Elias turned a corner, smirking and watching them from the corner of his eye.

 
     As Elias turned his attention to what was in front of him, he froze. Everything went quiet, even Sam's constant blabbering. There, in front of him, was the hottest man he had ever seen.  

     He was leaning up against the wall, tall, well built, chiseled features, deep green eyes, dark hair, and tan skin. The guy paused and faced him, a small smirk appearing on his face. He pushed himself off the wall and strutted towards him. Elias’ heart pounded in his chest. All of this was so unreal, almost… like a dream.

    
    Elias shot up in his bed, breathing heavily. He looked around his room before putting his face into his hands and sighing. 

     He turned to face his clock. 7:56. 

     “Shit.” he muttered under his breath, scurrying out of bed and into the closet. He grabbed a pair of jeans and a random shirt. He hesitated, before grabbing a large sweatshirt. He lived in Oregon, which was known for 2 things, Sasquatch and rain. 

     Elias slipped out his door, only to run face first into Charles. Charles was the house butler, he was old, but he had an odd sense of humor. He’d been their butler since before he could remember. 

     “Oh, young master, I had just come to wake you. Breakfast is ready, you better hurry down.” He spoke with a monotone voice. 

     Elias gave him a short nod before stepping aside, sprinting down the stairs. He hated it when Charles called him “master”, or when anyone called him that. It made him uncomfortable, but he never said anything about it. He didn’t know why, but he guessed that it would make Charles embarrassed, or something of the sort.

      He grabbed his things before carefully sneaking out the door, not wanting to be heard. He stepped into the frosty air, the sharpness stinging his lungs. He turned, only for his forehead to collide with something hard. 

     “What the hell man!” Elias shouted. There was Sam, leaning against the door frame. He rolled his eyes and pushed off the wall, grabbing Elias’ shoulder and leading him down the long driveway.  

     “Stop being such a baby,” He started, letting go of his shoulder. “You sure took your time, I don’t even know why I wait for you anymore.” 

     “Never said you had too.” Elias glared, only to get a scoff back as Sam pushed ahead. When they finally reached the road, Alex was leaning against a sign. He wore a tight t-shirt that hugged his muscles and light blue jeans. His cuffs were rolled up which revealed his light green converse. 

     “Took you long enough.” Alex said slyly, walking over and ruffling his hair. 

    “Alex don’t-” Elias was cut off by the roar of a large bus, and the screech of tires as it stopped in front of them. The sound of air releasing and the doors opening filled his ears as he hurriedly fixed his hair.  

     He scanned the bus until he found an empty seat near the back, getting shoved into it by Sam. Sam sat down next to him and immediately got on his phone and started talking about his latest girlfriend. Elias tuned him out and stared out the window, allowing the driver's trashy music taste to fill his ears instead. Just as he was about to space off completely, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw Madison, her long blond hair drifting over the seat. His heart dropped, and guilt overwhelmed him, spreading like hot fire across his body. As he turned to face her fully, words escaped her mouth.  

     “Hey.” She said with a soft smile. 

     “Hey.” He greeted back, nervously fidgeting with his hands. 

     Madison had been his friend since childhood, and in 9th grade, a rumor went around that she liked him. Things became awkward between them, and they stopped talking as much as they used to. It wasn’t because he didn’t think she was good enough, he thought she was very pretty. It was the hard part about explaining to her that he was-

     Panic rushed through him like water out of a breaking dam. He turned around and pulled up his hood. He stared out the window, watching the gardeners of his mansion plant flowers and dig up weeds. Well, it wasn’t exactly a mansion, but it was what you could get in Oregon. It used to be an old country club that his father had bought out and then turned it into a home. This had been a while ago, shortly after Elias and Alex’s mother died. His father said that was the reason he moved to the coast, and bought a $3.8 million dollar house that was located right next to a beach. 

     Elias called bullshit. The only reason he moved here was to escape his mothers presence and start a shitty TV show about hunting fake monsters. His mother wanted them to just be a family, and hated the idea that her husband would join his parents' TV franchise.

      Elias knew his father couldn’t stand the guilt of doing that where they had built their family, so he moved instead. Though they did spread her ashes in the ocean here, and, while Elias found that to be distasteful, his father said that it was where she “belonged” and that it was her “home”. Yeah, because getting eaten by fish sounds very homey.  

     Madison frowned and sat back into her seat. Her friend rested a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it. Madison turned and gave her a sad smile, before turning to look out the window as well.

     After about 30 minutes, which seemed like hours, the bus pulled up to the school. A group of seniors were surrounding what seemed like a fight. A few freshmen were vaping, and a couple was making out against the wall. Here it is, Marshveil high school, or, hell on earth. 

     Sam grabbed Elias’ inner bicep and yanked him inside. Sam held onto his arm for a moment longer before letting go. The warm air of the school hit them hard and Elias mentally cringed. 

***

If I'm being totally honest, I've been working on this since November of 2022, and didn't get to the second have of this chapter until early march of 2023 lol. Sorry if the spacing is weird, I had trouble with the indentations because I originally write all of my books on google docs. ALSO, if you are reading this what it first comes out, I don't like to post chapters unless I have at least the next chapter prepared in advance, just in case I have a massive case of writers block (Which is why I keep going from book to book.) Anyways, love you all! Thank you for reading at least the first chapter <3

word count - 1,090